Desert DPM

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

Went out yesterday with desert dpm for the first time.

Normally fully covered & tucked into the hedge I thought I'd try desert in the long grass & the edges of the crop as both are straw colour.

To explain better there is a mixture of stubble, standing crops & long rough grass verges that are straw coloured (desert dpm) surrounded by tall hedgerows still green (woodland dpm).

The basic idea was to get a bit closer to one hot spot area.

Does any one else use desert dpm in the open either in long dead grass or on the crop edge ?

Every now & then we have shots that stick in the mind.

Yesterday I arrived, woodland dpm trousers, desert dpm shirt, head net & gloves in my pocket just for a quick try out & to watch the field activity before I took the deeks for a proper couple of hours session.

To get to the particular area I have to crash through a wood & undergrowth so when I got there I just stood in the hedgerow, loaded up just in case & watched for a few minutes planning on the spot to go to with gloves & headnet in place.

I spotted a pigeon heading towards me, I froze & at the last minute mounted & shot, missed & the 2nd barrel found the mark & it dropped like a stone.

Paced out to 39yds to pick up, useing 1,1/8 7 shot.

Thing is, stood in the hedgerow, wrong shade, wrong colour, no gloves, no face cover but keeping still I didn't put the bird off.

Does anyone use desert dpm in the crops - stubble - long dead grass etc but still have success when the wrong background is used ?

[JonnyR]

I don't wear camo just browns and greens and function that as long as you are against a hedge and stand still then they generally don't see you til it is too late.

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

I don't wear camo just browns and greens and function that as long as you are against a hedge and stand still then they generally don't see you til it is too late.

I know the value & effectiveness of drab plain colours but not tried them on the stubble - corn- long dead grass.

Have you ?

[Blackbart]

IMO If it walks or fly's it doesnt really matter but i would say movement will give you away far far quicker than anything you are wearing.I reckon concealment is 95% motion and 5% camo as far as animals are concerned as long as you have something behind you and are not skylined then you could probably stand there in an orange boiler suit and it wouldnt really matter.

[rodp]

IMO If it walks or fly's it doesnt really matter but i would say movement will give you away far far quicker than anything you are wearing.I reckon concealment is 95% motion and 5% camo as far as animals are concerned as long as you have something behind you and are not skylined then you could probably stand there in an orange boiler suit and it wouldnt really matter.

 

I had reason to look in to camofluage seriously a while back for work and found our American friends have really studied it. It turns out that mostly we take the wrong attitude to camo by trying to merge ourselves into the background. In fact all we need to do is disguise the fact that we are human, and, we do that by disrupting our outline and distinguishing features, hence DPM and head wear.

 

Here's a small extract from Wiki,

 

Disruptive camouflage seeks to confuse the observer, by providing visual cues that override the camouflaged object's features. This prevents the observer from accurately identifying characteristics of the camouflaged object(s), such as shape, size, orientation, and number of objects in a group

 

I wear ex-military camo because it does the job and it's cheap, probably as do a lot of others. You could in fact cover yourself with a flourescent orange dustbin and still have the same effect, I.E. cannot tell you are a human and therefore dangerous.

[Cranfield]

Shooting this morning on rape stubble and my friend on the other side of the field had a MoD green and brown camo net strung between two giant rape bales and you could see it a mile away, but he had pigeons landing among his decoys.

I suppose the answer is you couldn't see him behind it.

 

When talking about camo and birds behaviour there are lots of weird things to explain.

Do the birds recognise my truck,as they often fly off the other end of the field when I pull in ?

Stand in the open chatting to the farmer and you are guaranteed at least one pigeon will fly right over your heads about 40 ft up, that never happens if you are standing there on your own.

 

I think you have to disguise your human outline from the birds as much as possible and we do that by hiding behind a net most of the time, or blending into a hedgerow, etc.

I doubt if it matters to the birds what colour the net is.

I also agree that movement is a major issue.

[THEINVISIBLESCARECROW]

Interesting stuff.

As it's rare I use a net I do take care about motion & hide face & hands etc.

For years all I wore was an old battered wax jacket & olive trousers.

Not much good in the warm weather so I went the lightweight DPM route.

Thats why I'm now trying the desert shirt.

Disruptive etc.

A wrong shape is easier spotted & I'm thinking because woodland DPM is much darker than desert It would show the human shape as dark against light.

Another pattern I've thought of is the old German Tan & Water, that looks a good stubble pattern in a good light shade similar to desert but with a few darker patches so it'll possibly match stubble & dirt or long dead grass with the odd darker big dead weed amongst it...

[UKPoacher]

How many times do you take the net down and while stood there in full view pigeons commit to the deeks? It happened to me twice yesterday at seperate locations.